Numsa to ANC: Hands off Madonsela

The trade union supported calls for President Jacob Zuma to repay a portion of public funds spent on his Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal residence.

“The National Union of Metalworkers of SA condemns in the strongest terms the vicious attacks directed at the office and person of the public protector, advocate Thuli Madonsela,” it said in a statement.

“She … has simply done her job very well, courageously, professionally and as stipulated by both the liberal Constitution and relevant laws of South Africa.”

The war of words between Madonsela and the ruling party had taken a “dangerous, conspirational turn”.

It said the ANC accused her of timing her leaked letter to President Jacob Zuma to coincide with “legitimate demands” by the Economic Freedom Fighters for an answer from Zuma as to whether he will repay some of the R246-million spent on Nkandla.

Numsa said there could be “no better measure of the degree of rot, corruption and complete loss of revolutionary morality in the ANC and the SACP” than the fact that poor South Africans lacked adequate housing, while a quarter of a million rand in taxpayers’ money was spent on the president’s private home.

Numsa’s statement forms part of growing pressure on Zuma to respond to Madonsela’s recommendation that he reimburse the state for improvements at Nkandla unrelated to security.

The EFF said on Friday it would go to court to fight its looming suspension from Parliament for staging an unprecedented protest in the National Assembly, in which its MPs chanted “pay back the money”.